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French to English translations [PRO] Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature
French term or phrase:bryon de mes yeux
Hi all, I'm having real difficulty with a particular part of this text, which is sort of half poem and taken from the script of a play. The character goes into the woods to live amongst the animals and away from the corruption of the human world.
The phrase is:
L'exil me rendra le bryon de mes yeux, une pupille en île qui se soulage du temps en tournant sur elle-même.
I just cannot find this word "bryon" anywhere. Can anyone help?
I've enjoyed following this, albeit mostly at a distance (up to my ears in a highly technical text this week). Very thought-provoking!
Lisa McCreadie (X)
United States
ASKER
I love that...
10:25 Mar 11, 2011
this has sparked such lively discussion! Thank you all for your contributions. In the end, I decided that the idea of moss falling away from his eyes, regaining his sight probably fit best with the rest of the text which, as has been said, seems to deal with the "re-awakening" of various body parts. Many thanks again :) Lisa
It's me again. Sorry, but I was dying to give it a go, and it's Claude-Andrew's idea. I've realised that "moss" has got something very soothing in English poetry. I recall Heaney using Dante saying something like "I wiped his eyes with moss and dew" and thought it was beautiful. ... or something like ... graced with mellow/kind moss. I couldn't resist!
Alors, pour reprendre pied (guérir), il s'imagine devenir chêne, symbole de la stabilité, ayant tout loisir d'amasser mousse (donc du bryon). Retrouver l'éclat, le brillant de ses yeux reviendrait à dire qu'il aurait retrouvé une certaine séreinité.
C'est un poème intéressant, j'y suis retournée :-)
11:09 Mar 10, 2011
Voilà ce que je lis entre les lignes de ce passage : il va donc en exil dans la forêt pour se guérir, (re)devenir lui-même. Ses yeux retrouveront leur brillant (et ne seront plus ces pupilles qui divaguent), il réapprendra à rire (et à sortir de la nuit), il retrouvera son souffle et recouvrera l'usage de ses trois langues (et je vais extrapoler en me disant que l'auteur qui a des origines créoles parle pour lui) : L’exil me rendra le bryon de mes yeux, une pupille en île qui se soulage du temps en tournant sur elle-même. Mes rires seront les tombelles de mes nuits. Ample à nouveau, mon souffle retrouvera l’usage de ses langues :
Bryony étant un poison (navet du diable), le nom étant connu par ceux qui sont en contact avec des anglophones à cause du prénom, je vois bien l'idée de pupilles dilatées comme sous l'effet d'une drogue (tournant sur elle-même; cherchant à se soulager du temps) ... et alors, il y aurait bien un effet de style avec "brillant" comme dans les yeux brillant de fièvre, ou brillant de plaisir. Bon, avec tout cela, je ne peux pas proposer de traduction. http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/brywhi77.html
How are you reading the "me rendra". I wonder if there is a play here on having scales over one's eyes or a log in one's eye? Given back to me rather than falling away?
Alison Sabedoria (X)
United Kingdom
Bryon
17:24 Mar 6, 2011
According to the Robert Historique "bryon" was used from the 16th century (1562: brion, 1741: bryum) as follows: "plante cryptogame, mousse croissante surtout sur l'écorce des arbres".<p>White Bryony (Bryonia dioica) = la bryone dioïque, Black Bryony (tamus communis) = la bryone noire, but it's the root that's black. I checked, in case the berries were black (like the pupil of the eye). Apart from the word being feminine, both plants have red berries. So I'd go along with the moss and "inner vision" idea. Mind you, the green of the moss in my local forest is so restful that just looking at the great woolly mats of it does me a power of good! =)
I don't think there's any doubt about the author's literacy. The poem is full of difficult terms - you can find the rest at http://www.crlbn.fr/2010/10/27/le-recours-aux-forets-en-prea... Given the context I think a plant-related solution is right. Bryony is a wild, poisonous plant; or it may be the Greek term bryon which means moss (as Philippa has pointed out). The figure is wrapping himself in the forest elements; it makes me think of Ariel in the oak tree in The Tempest.
Having just looked up the full text, I really don't think it's a case of phonetic "brillant": the style is very lyrical and literary. This section is about the narrator incorporating aspects of the forest in his own body, so I'd say the plant aspect is the way to go: his exile in the forest is "giving him back" the lichen that veils his eyes, so that he can look inwards. I'm not sure it's "bryony" tho' - I 'd stick with "lichen", going by the references I posted.
Lisa McCreadie (X)
United States
ASKER
Interesting...
16:26 Mar 6, 2011
It's a recent text so it's hard to be sure. I like this idea though, it's definitely a possibility. Plant ideas are also good but how would that fit into the translation? Eg. Exile will make me the bryony of my eyes? I can't really make sense of it.
I agree with the others that it could be "brillant". Otherwise, "bryon" is apparently a type of lichen mentioned by Pliny in his natural history - not sure if that would tie in, tho' being a poem, and about someone going to live in the woods (where lichen grows), it might well do...
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